


The Singing General

by jynx



Series: Music Soothes the Savage Beast [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Obi-Wan sings, battle aftermath, mentions of Melida/Daan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2018-04-14
Packaged: 2019-04-22 17:59:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14314107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jynx/pseuds/jynx
Summary: Sometimes you just need a distraction when everything around you is going to absolute shit.





	The Singing General

**Author's Note:**

> Song is "Wild Hearts Can't be Broken" by P!nk, which I cannot recommend enough. I, er, had it on loop by accident--my finger slipped!--and this is the result. ;)

It had been a hellish campaign with casualties piled up high for both the 501st and the 212th. Both Sawbones and Kix were working overtime, pulling in any brother who had shown any inclination of wanting to help patch up the wounded, while others were laying out the bodies of the fallen for pyre. Cody had been injured, as had Rex, but both injuries had been minor--patch jobs that had the medics waving them away in minutes while they focused on those who needed the attention. 

"I don't see the Jedi," Rex said. 

"Not good," Cody agreed. 

They both knew that their Jedi tended to take losses like this personally. Tano, as the youngest, didn't know how to cope and took it the hardest. She would spend time with the wounded, looking more and more sad until one of the older Jedi took her aside either for training or tea, distracting her. Even then, she would circle back and hunker down with the surviving brothers and remember those they had lost. 

General Skywalker was hit or miss, either he shrugged it off or he took it so personally it took Rex, General Kenobi, Tano, and a whole host of brothers to talk him out of tracking down what remained of the Seps and smashing them into even more bits. No one like it when General Skywalker acted that way, especially since that would be tantamount to suicide the majority of the time. 

General Kenobi was the strangest one, by every brother's agreement. 

When they had been shinies and him a freshly appointed General--Cody would fight any brother who claimed General Kenobi was "new" at leading troops--there had been a level of wariness of both sides. The Jedi didn't know what to do with the clones and the clones didn't know what to do with the Jedi, but General Kenobi had rolled up his metaphorical sleeves and made it work. Those who had been trained for it had noticed, with a sense of disquiet, the ease of which Kenobi had taken to command and leading the troops. 

When Cody had asked, the tight-lipped bastard had merely shrugged and smiled and said he was used to it and promptly avoided all further attempts at intelligence gathering. 

When he had losses, though? He vanished. No brother, commander or otherwise, could find him until he wanted to be found and then he would act like nothing had ever happened. Cody had caught him once, though, in the act of disappearing and the grief he had seen convinced him to get the shinies to stop the gossip about their cold-hearted Jedi. 

"You hear that?" Rex asked, nudging Cody. 

Cody frowned. He'd been near the bigger cannons and his ears were ringing slightly. He rubbed at his left ear and shook his head. "Kind of? Is that singing?" he asked. 

"Guess I owe Tano twenty credits," Rex said, leading Cody off in hopefully the right direction. "She told me General Kenobi sang and I told her she was full of it." 

Cody snorted, "Would have told her the same thing, _vod_." 

Rex grinned at him and they walked in silence, listening as Kenobi's voice grew stronger the closer they got. A few other brothers had found the General--Boil and Waxer were sitting on the ground, curled up together with their heads bowed, a couple of the 501st, and Cody could see others in 212th gold further back--who was perched on a rock, a knee pulled to his chest as he sang. General Skywalker had his arms around Tano, running a comforting hand over her back, leaning against the rock Kenobi was sitting on. 

" _There's not enough rope to tie me down,_  
_There's not enough tape to shut this mouth,_  
_The stones you throw can make me bleed,_  
_But I won't stop until we're free,_  
_Wild hearts can't be broken,_  
_No, wild hearts can't be broken,_  
_This wild heart can't be broken."_  


Cody listened as the song ended, Kenobi's voice full of angry and heartbroken emotion, and couldn't help but wonder about his General. Apparently, he wasn't the only one. 

"Never heard a song like that before," Rex said into the silence. 

General Kenobi opened his eyes and gave them a small smile. "No, I doubt you would have. It comes from another war, not too long ago, on a planet in the Outer Rim called Melida/Daan." He sighed and stretched out. "A good friend of mine wrote it not long before she was killed fighting for the peace she believed in." 

"Master?" General Skywalker asked. 

General Kenobi had a wry tilt to his smile that sent shivers down Cody's spine. That was not a happy look; there were too many ghosts in his General's eyes. "You and Ahsoka should see if the others need help setting up a mess tent," he said. "There are plenty of survivors and we do need to eat, especially those tending to the wounded." 

"But--" 

"Anakin." 

General Skywalker sighed and got to his feet, helping Tano to hers as well. They trudged off, Skywalker clapping Rex on the shoulder as they passed and Tano giving him a quick hug. Cody gave them a lazy salute, none of them actually caring for protocol at the moment, and waited for General Kenobi to say what was on his mind. 

"I was thirteen when I left the Order to fight a war that wasn't mine," General Kenobi said, squinting into the setting suns to make sure General Skywalker and Commander Tano were far enough away. "My Master left me on a planet that was tearing itself apart, children fighting adults, the very definition of chaos, and I believed I was doing the right thing. Still believe, to a degree." 

"Sir?" Cody asked, startled. 

"Isn't that just, er, not done?" Waxer asked, looking up. 

General Kenobi chuckled. "You would be very correct, Waxer. It is not done. My friend died, killed by friendly fire, the war raged, my Master returned and… Well, peace was established, if you can call it that and I was accepted back into the Order." 

"Didn't last?" Rex guessed. 

General Kenobi looked disgusted as he got to his feet and jumped off the rock. "Three years and they were at it again. They have since been expelled from the Republic for gross crimes against sentience and everyone I knew from that time in my life is dead." 

"Why not tell General Skywalker?" one of the 501st asked. Cody couldn't see who it was from the suns light in the way. "Wouldn't it be helpful? To know that sometimes even you mess up?" 

General Kenobi snorted, brushing himself off. "If Anakin knew that leaving the Order was a viable option, he'd be on the first transport to Coruscant to thumb his nose at the Council, toss his lightsaber at them, and waltz his way down the steps. He would most likely also take Ahsoka with him." 

Rex winced and Cody sighed. Truer words had, unfortunately, never been spoken. 

"That would be bad," a trooper pointed out. 

"Indeed," General Kenobi said, smiling. 

Rex cleared his throat, "Well. I know we got here late and all, sir, but can I make a suggestion?" General Kenobi quirked an eyebrow at him in invitation. "Sing something else for us?" 

The General laughed, startled, as other brothers shouted their agreement. Cody leaned against Rex, quiet in his own approval. "I suppose," Kenobi said, stroking his beard to hide his pleasure. "Any requests?" 


End file.
